Walking is one of Britain’s favourite pastimes – and an important source of tourism revenue in rural areas. We lead guided walks and provide a route planning service for self-guided walks to rural tourism businesses in the Forest of Bowland AONB
The picturesque upper Ribble Valley around Clitheroe is criss-crossed with footpaths and bridleways and more and more tourists are choosing to explore the delights of rural Lancashire on foot.
The neighbouring Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is also a magnet for hikers and ramblers in search of peace and solitude amid beautiful landscapes.
And after a long day striding out along the footpaths of the Forest or the Valley, most walkers are hungry and thirsty and very much in the market for a hearty meal and a drink at a welcoming country pub or café.
- Looking for guided walks? Click here
Many of Britain’s most enthusiastic walkers are retired or semi-retired and are the healthiest and wealthiest pensioner generation ever. As a result, they will often walk during quieter periods during the week when you may welcome increased in ‘walk-up’ trade.
Most regular walkers are looking to cover between four and eight miles and prefer a circular route although the Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland does attract more dedicated hikers who might be looking to cover more than 10 miles in a typical day.
One way of attracting walkers to your business is by promoting a local walk in your area that starts and finishes at your front door. If you can offer free parking – then so much the better.
We offer a bespoke route-planning and design service, which creates professional standard route cards for rural businesses.
We walk the route, take professional images (and video or time-lapse, if required), write and check turn-by-turn route guidance and put it all into a neat little package which you can print off and hand out to customers.
- Click on the image right to see a sample route card.
We’ll also upload it to some of the leading walking websites so that it can attract business from further afield and we can also prepare a web-ready version which walkers can view and download from your own website.
Many of these websites also offer a walks App which allows visitors to download routes to their mobile phones and follow them in real time, to create what is effectively ‘Sat Nav’ for hikers.
We can usually turn these routes round pretty quickly, but we do recommend using photography shot during the summer months to boost visual appeal.
- Get in touch for a no obligation quote here.